Sunsets and Snake Charms
by littlelovegood
Summary: Weasley-Potter day at the beach, Scorpius notices something different about Rose. Please R&R x


"You know, point of coming to the beach is to let the sun reach your skin, not wear more clothes than you would in winter, Rose."

"Have you seen my hair, Al? In case you hadn't noticed, I'm ginger – I will burn to a crisp."

"Little melodramatic Rosie, don't you think?"

"No, I don't thank you very much."

Hearing the commotion from the water, both Albus and Rose turned to see Scorpius, Lily, Hugo and Roxanne splashing around in the water.

"Come on Rose, I'm ghostly white and you're not the only ginger! Put on some sun cream and come swim?"

Laughter erupted from the group of friends, leaving Rose embarrassed and Scorpius confused.

"What? What did I miss, I don't get it?"

Lilly took a break from laughing to fill Scorpius in, "Rose doesn't swim Scor, she's afraid of open water."

"I'm not afraid, I just don't like it! Besides, open water is a very rational fear."

Rose grabbed her back from the sand and stormed away in a huff. The hot-headed girl returned 15 minutes later wearing an emerald green bikini that showed her slim figure and perfect curves. The emerald green complimented Rose's red hair that was pushed back with a headband, beautifully and brought out the gold in her eyes. The sarong wrapped around her waist blew elegantly in the gentle, cooling breeze.

"Happy? I changed, now let me read!"

Al left to play in the sea with cousins, leaving Rose alone in the bliss of her own company and a good book. It wasn't for hours later when she was bothered by a distortion of sunrays and a movement of sand.

"Scorpius, you're in my light, move!"

"Sorry Rose, just looking for my towel... You're sitting on it."

"Oh, sorry. Here," Rose made to move, but Scorpius stopped her.

"Hey, it's okay. I'll just use yours, not that you're going to need it."

"Shut up. What are you doing over here anyway?" Rose asked, suddenly aware of the lack of noise her cousins produced everywhere they went.

"They're all going back to the hotel for a few drinks; I wanted to hang around here for a little bit. You know, I've never seen a sun set before."

"You've got to be kidding me? Never watched the sun set? Oh now you have to stay and watch it!"

"Rose, you're a little red. Actually, you're very red. Did you put on sun cream at all?"

"Yes, I did! I told I burn badly, this was the highest factor I could find!" Rose started to fret.

"Look lay down and I'll put after sun on you, then we can go for a walk and watched your magical sunset together," Scorpius didn't wait for an answer from Rose as he picked up the sun cream and started massaging it into her back.

"You don't mind if I stay?" Rose sounded a little taken aback.

"Of course not, why would I?"

"I don't know, it's just, I usually watch the sunset alone, is all"

"You don't have ... "

Rose cut Scorpius off, a little too quickly, "No, I want to! Company would be nice; I've just never had an offer before."

"Rose, you know you're my best friend and all, but sometimes I can't get over the fact that you're a little strange and awkward at times, you know that?"

"You love me anyway though," Rose teased.

"You know I do"

By this point, Scorpius had rubbed cream into Rose's back, shoulders, belly, arms and right leg. It wasn't until he had run his hands down her leg twice, that he noticed the silver chain around her ankle.

"Rose, what's that? I've never seen you wear an anklet before."

"What? No! It's nothing." Rose looked shocked and embarrassed as she hurriedly sat on her feet in an attempt to hide the silver piece of jewellery.

"Really? I don't think you'd act like that over nothing, let me see?"

"No, you'll laugh."

"No, I won't. Promise," with that word Scorpius put out his pinkie finger for Rose to make a pinkie promise. Rose pushed his hand away.

"No Scor, please don't push it"

"Well you've never wore Jewellery before so it must be special to you?"

Rose sighed, "Yeah it is. Means a lot to me."

"The person, or the anklet?"

"Both"

"Do I get to know who gave it to you?"

"No, you don't! Are we going for that walk or not?"

"Yeah, course. Come on then."

The walk down the beach was a quiet one, not awkward as such, but not comfortable either. Scorpius was looking at his feet, and stopped suddenly to pick up what looked like a pebble. The anklet caught Scorpius' eye, and recognition flooded in. Before she knew what was happening, Rose's bum collided with the soft, cool sand.

"What the hell Scor, was there need for that? That bloody hurt!"

"Rose? Is this the bracelet I made in second year?"

"That's irrelevant!"

Rose began to storm away, leaving a confused Scorpius to chase her down the beach.

"Answer my question, Rose!"

Rose sighed and looked and the silver chain around her ankle. The emerald eye of the snake charm caught her eye and shifted on the spot.

"Yeah Scor, it is."

"I thought you said it was special to you?"

"It is special to me!"

"Rose! I transfigured the chain from paperclips and the snake was an accident. It's just a piece of metal that formed when our potions experiment went wrong. That's not special."

"Well it's special to me Scorpius! See I told you you'd laugh."

"I'm not! Look I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was important to you, can we go watch the sun set."

The light from the sun, low on the horizon, made Rose's hair glow in spectacular colours, like flames from a fire.

"Stop watching me from the corner of eye Scorpius. What do you want?"

"I want to know why you kept it so long. I want to know why it's important to you." Although they weren't really questions, Rose knew she had to answer them.

"I kept it because it's important to me, it's important to me because you gave me it!"

"Does that make me the person who is special to you Rosie?"

"Huh. Yes Scorpius, it does. Happy now?"

"Yes."

"Why are you still staring at me?"

"You know, Rose, I think you're special. And you're definitely important to me."

"Scorpius I don't think you understand..."

"I love you, Rose."

"I love you too, Scorpius. I'm glad you wanted to watch the sunset."

"I'm happy you didn't want o watch it alone."

"Albus leave them alone!"

"I just want to see... aww, Lily look!"

"Come on, Al. Yes they're very cute cuddling on the beach. They won't be so cute when they find out you're spying."

"Fine."

**Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Please R&R x**


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